


Holding Out for the Best of Us

by sweaters_and_tea



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It, Gen, Nope endgame didn't happen everything is good, not enough to tag though, very brief mention of steve/bucky, we're fixing this shit one fic at a time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 15:52:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18626398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweaters_and_tea/pseuds/sweaters_and_tea
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS!The Infinity Stones are more aware than you'd think, and they aren't going to sit by and let this happen.





	Holding Out for the Best of Us

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all I'm still crying over this movie. The Russo brothers kinda did the Avengers dirty, so we're here to fix the mess. I'm probably going to go back and write a longer fic at some point, but this is the first thing I wrote.

The stones had existed for millennia.

Passed from hand to hand, forgotten basement to clenched fist, each stone had experienced a journey unlike any other relic in the universe. Along their very long journey, they absorbed some of the energy from every containment spell that held them and every magician selfishly using them for their own purposes. With enough magic imbuing them, the stones acquired a modicum of sentience.

With sentience came a personality. Each of the stones became somewhat of a trickster, which is why a user’s desires had to be stated precisely if they wanted to achieve their intended goal. Otherwise, the stones could take a wish however they so desired. Despite this, the stones were not without a heart. It’s why the guardians were able to survive using the power stone, as the stone had seen the courageous soul of the guardians and found itself obliged to let them live.  
The stones did not particularly like Thanos. While they were happy to be reunited with their brethren of sorts, the amount of power required from each of them to kill half the population of the universe nearly drained them dry. They also took offense to the arrogant way Thanos wielded them, as he acted as though it was his right to use them. The stones knew destiny, and Thanos was not a part of it. The stones were sensitive to the flow of time, and killing half the universe shifted the time stream so extremely that time itself seemed to scream.

The stones are keepers of the timeline, and as such are not held to the same standards of time as average objects. They have no perception of time, existing everywhere and everywhen at the same time. As a result, they knew the future the Avengers were trying to avert as they pulled them from their respective time streams. Wily though they were, the stones found themselves developing a fondness for the rag tag group of heroes attempting to set the world right again.

When the soul stone watched the Avengers called Hawkeye and Black Widow desperately fight over who was to sacrifice themselves for the stone, it felt an emotion it had never felt before: sorrow. The stone did not want to see either of them die. It had seen too many centuries of selfishness and arrogance as desperate power-seekers attempted to gain access. Never before had it seen someone willing to sacrifice themselves to gain the stone, and as a result it felt its power reacting to its emotions.

***

In a shallow pond lit by an ever-setting sun, Hawkeye and Black Widow both blinked awake. They looked at each other in shock. Clutched in Clint’s hand was a dimly glowing stone that seemed to wink at him as he stared at it incredulously.

**

_Please, bring back everyone Thanos dusted._

When Bruce clicked his fingers together, the stones nearly overpowered him in their excitement to follow his wish. Even though his wish was not exact, they took the initiative to interpret his wish a little differently and set all the wrongs Thanos made right. Those who were killed by cars without drivers, planes without pilots, or surgeries without a surgeon found themselves waking up, just like everyone who Thanos killed directly. Thanos had indirectly killed much more than 50 percent of the population with his wish, and the stones itched to fix it all.

The stones did not appreciate being tossed around by a collapsing building. More than that, they screamed at the sheer _wrongness_ of a Thanos out of time disrupting the future. The stones would not abide by Thanos destroying the universe and the timeline a second time. They could not interfere directly without a wielder, but they could manipulate little things. An extra-strong punch here, a second saved there, anything to help protect the little humans these stones had grown so fond of. When Thanos was about to snap his fingers again, the stones fought so hard against him that Thanos physically couldn’t snap for a moment. It was only a second, but it was enough for Captain Marvel to intervene and stop him.

When Tony Stark reached down to pull the stones out of the gauntlet, the stones nearly cried out in horror. The stones knew the damage they would do to an unenhanced wielder, but there was nothing they could do. They had expected Captain Marvel to put on the gauntlet and reverse everything. Without a direct wish, there was nothing they could do to save him. As he kneeled, their power flowing through his veins as he said his last words, the stones hoped beyond hope for a miracle.

_Please, get rid of Thanos and all of his creatures that don’t belong here. Give them their future back, at least._

The stones were reluctant to grant his wish. They couldn’t let this genius mind melt under their strain, let this man who had completely turned his life around miss out on his second chance. And then, it happened.

_God, I don’t want to die._

The last, desperate prayer of a dying man. And the stones could work with that.

***

Tony slipped into awareness slowly. The many heads of his friends and family surrounded him, tears dripping from their eyes. He could still feel Pepper’s lips on his cheek as a sob slipped out of her mouth. He opened his eyes and tilted his head toward her, smiling softly at the stunned look on her face.  
“What, did you think a few little stones could kill me? Please, I’m better than that,” he laughed, winking at her when she let out a wet laugh. Suddenly, he felt an impact against his chest and looked down to a face full of brown hair. Peter sobbed into his chest, his hands scrabbling for purchase on his shoulders. Tony hugged him close and whispered reassurances to him, and as Steve and Rhodey’s hands settled on his shoulders he knew that all was right with the world.

***

“Capsicle, I think you’re missing what’s in front of you. There’s someone here in this time that loves you, the real you and not the fabricated, post-serum identity you’ve woven into your personality,” Tony said as he walked past Steve. Steve looked at him in surprise and confusion, and Tony shook his head before tilting his head toward the dark-haired man standing in the kitchen. Steve glanced behind Tony, raising an eyebrow as his eyes settled on Bucky.

“Just think about what you’d be leaving behind if you stayed with Peggy. Don’t give me that look, I’m not a genius for nothing. I know why you were so eager to volunteer to return the stones. You’ve made a home for yourself here, don’t throw that away,” Tony said before finally walking away. Steve watched him walk away, then turned a considering eye to Bucky.

***

Back in the past, yet also in the future, the stones sparkled smugly. Everything had worked out the way it was meant to, and they were satisfied at a job well done.


End file.
